Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the former commander of U.S. Central Command, passed away (a nice way to say he died) Dec. 27, 2012.
For those not familiar with Stormin’ Norman, he was the commander of allied forces during the Gulf War (aka Operation Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm, or the 1st Iraq War).
I worked under him during Operation Desert Shield (though I never met the man – THANK GOD!), and for the commander the next echelon down from him during Desert Storm.
My memories of Swarzkopf? He had one a hell of a presence at a press conference.
From the testimonies of my superiors and those in my field who did have regular contact him: He was absolutely an SOB to work for and came by Stormin Norman aptly. He apparently had a real temper and did not suffer fools, incompetents, or uninformed lightly.
Still, he could motivate people to get the job done and his plan (although the solution was obvious to me like four months before I saw it) worked better than expected.
I have a few anecdotes, like the one about Lt. Gen. Fred Franks having to really scramble to get troops to the crossroads that Schwarzkopf had designated for the ceasefire talks. It seems when Franks reported the crossroads were under allied control by VII Corps, he meant that there were a pair of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters hovering over it and the nearest ground troops were some kilometers away. OOPSIE.
Anyway, the good general is gone now: May he rest in a warrior’s peace.
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